Liverpool face obvious change as Alisson makes 'pretty serious injury' admission

It's one Premier League record Jurgen Klopp won't be dwelling on for too long once he leaves Anfield for good inside the next fortnight.

But it goes some way to explaining why his evolving Liverpool side were unable to keep pace with Manchester City and Arsenal in the title challenge over the closing weeks.

The concession of two late goals in the enjoyable 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend meant the Reds have now gone nine league games without a clean sheet in the Premier League. That's the longest such run during a course of a season under Klopp, with Liverpool having matched it during the closing weeks of the 2015/16 campaign and the start of 2016/17.

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The Reds have managed to ensure only nine top-flight shutouts this term. Compare that to the tally of 11 from City and a whopping 17 of Arsenal. And the importance of keeping a clean sheet was underlined during the last month - had Liverpool kept just two more at Manchester United and West Ham United, games in which they led, then they'd be four points better off and still very much in contention for the championship.

Given Klopp's side have lost only four league games all season - fewer than leaders Arsenal - then such draws are what have ultimately proven costly.

And with only two games now remaining, Liverpool are guaranteed to post their lowest number of Premier League clean sheets over a full campaign under the departing manager. The previous fewest was 12 in the 2016/17 and 2020/21 seasons while the most came in 2021/22, when they totalled 21 league shut-outs.

Undoubtedly, the Reds have not been helped by the chopping and changing not only to their the backline, but also in goal and in the key defensive midfield position. First-choice full-backs Trent-Alexander Arnold and Andy Robertson and deputies Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas have all had extended periods on the sidelines, centre-back Joel Matip had his season ended in December while Ibrahima Konate has been hampered by regular hamstring issues, defensive midfielders Wataru Endo and Alexis Mac Allister have both missed a month for differing reasons, and goalkeeper Alisson Becker was unavailable for more than two months.

It has contributed to last Sunday being only the eighth time this season Liverpool have named the same back five for successive Premier League matches, with the Reds failing to keep the same defensive unit together for three consecutive top-flight games. By contrast, Arsenal's lack of injury problems in defence have meant the last time the trio of right-back Ben White and centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba failed to start a Premier League game together was back on December 2.

Clearly, consistency of selection is important. And Liverpool will surely be mindful of recruiting players with durability when the look to reconfigure their squad in the summer under incoming manager Arne Slot, with a new centre-back a priority should, as expected, Matip exit as a free agent.

While Caoimhin Kelleher was a more than able deputy between the sticks - in his 26 appearances in all competitions this season, Liverpool lost only four and took 26 from 30 points in his 10 Premier League outings - there's no doubt Alisson was a major absence. Having played the same amount of games as Kelleher, he has kept double the amount of clean sheets, 10 compared to five for the Republic of Ireland international.

"The first six months for me was really good," says Alisson. "I was really happy about the way I could play. But of course the last three months - apart from the last three weeks when I came back playing - was a really difficult period for me.

"It was a pretty serious injury. Two months away for a muscle injury is a lot but of course I had to set new targets and the target was recovering well and being able to be back fit in the best way as soon as I could. And I think I did that. Physically I came back maybe better than I was before I got injured. So that is something which is really good for me and now I'm doing what I like most, playing games."

Having been in contention for a quadruple, Liverpool will have to settle for the League Cup and a return to the Champions League next season having missed out last term. And of Klopp's farewell, Alisson adds: "Of course, everybody would have liked to have given him another trophy for his last year at Liverpool, but everything he did was already amazing at this club, so winning or losing would not have made it any different because what he did here is bigger than results.

"It is about legacy, not only for the trophies that he won but also the legacy for the people, for the supporters, for the players and for everybody who has been involved."

Klopp, though, will hope that legacy does not include a continuation of Liverpool's leakiness into next season. The Reds have long shown they can keep it clean in recent years - now they must look back to go forward once again.